To tone your muscles you must train with weights with light weights and high repetitions.

First, let’s clarify the tone of the word. Toning is nothing more than reducing the percentage of body fat. The word was invented as a marketing word to convince women to go to gyms. Your muscles only have the ability to shrink or grow.

As a personal trainer who has helped thousands of clients get in shape, I understand what you mean by tone. You want to be slim and slim and avoid looking like a Russian shot putter at all costs. Think Jennifer Aniston as opposed to Helga.

To tone up (lower the percentage of body fat) you must choose exercises, repetitions and weights that accelerate your metabolism. By increasing your metabolism, you will be able to burn large amounts of fat calories throughout the day.

Scientific research has shown that lifting heavy weights recruits more muscle fibers and therefore stimulates and speeds up the metabolism.

I know it’s a scary thought to lift heavy weights, but that’s your neurological association that lifting heavy weights will turn you into Helga, the Russian shot putter. That is far from the truth.

Yes, Helga lifts heavy weights, but she eats a lot of carbohydrates in her diet, putting masses of fat on top of her muscles, making her look bulky.

To lose fat you must have a calorie deficit.

Calories are all the same whether they come from beef or bourbon, from sugar or starch, or from cheese and crackers. Too many calories are simply too many calories.
-Fred Stare, founder and former chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University

The above statement is very stupid!

For example, if we take two identical twins Jack and Bob, now Jack and Bob weigh the same, have the same activity levels, and have the same body composition. We give them 2000 calories a day for 30 days. The only difference is that Jack will consume his 2000 calories in pure white table sugar and Bob will consume his 2000 calories in lean chicken breast.

Do you think that after 30 days they will weigh the same or even have the same body composition?

Of course not!

One reason for this is that we have different hormonal responses to different foods.

By eating foods we were designed for, we make sure our hormones are happy.

Why is this important?

It is our hormones that dictate how well our body will function. Simply put, if we eat a good meal, we sleep well and don’t get too stressed; we will keep our hormones happy leading to homeostasis (the body’s ability to regulate hormones and bodily functions).

An interesting study by Kekwick and Pawan compared three groups with a semi-starved diet:

Group 1 consumed: 1000 calories of which 90% from fat
Group 2 consumed: 1000 calories of which 90% were protein.
Group 3 consumed 1000 calories of which 90% were carbohydrates.

Interestingly, the group that consumed 90% fat lost the most weight 408g (0.9lb) per day. The protein group lost 272 g (0.6 pounds) per day and the carbohydrate group gained 108 g (0.24 pounds) per day.

To conclude, it is not about the number of calories you eat, but the type of calories that dictate the weather in which you lose or gain weight.